Review: Back to the Future III (1990)
Written by: Brian J. Sumner
Trilogy. Franchise. Collection. No matter what tag you want to assign to a group of films dedicated to on overarching story told over the course of several films, one thing is for certain: if the story isn’t compelling, no one will stick around to hear you finish telling it.
It’s as simple as that.
Luckily for us movie fans, Hollywood has a much better track record for producing good franchise stories than they do putting out subpar efforts. The Back to the Future trilogy, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, is a franchise that has stood the test of time. Audiences of all ages gravitate towards this fun, roller coaster ride through time with our hero, Marty McFly, as he tries to undo his inadvertent mess-ups in the past that ultimately have grave implications and impact on his future. The franchise concluded its story with the release of Back to the Future Part III way back in 1990, but with its popularity, newer and younger audiences are cropping up as parents go back in time to relive the nostalgia of Marty and Doc Browns time traveling adventure.
I could talk about the overall scope of the trilogy and it’s impact on Hollywood with its overall commercial success (almost 1 billion dollars in just the box office) but right now I would like to focus on the final chapter of the trilogy. Back to the Future Part III set out to not only conclude the story of Marty and Doc, but to also extend the continued success of the franchise to this point. Part 1 and Part 2 both had dramatically supercharged the interest of the global audience not only by using comedy, but by also blending aspects of science fiction. The balance between both genres was a near perfect chemical mixture that resulted in box office gold and Part 3 was poised to follow in those footsteps. To say that Part 3 was commercially on the same level as its predecessors would be totally inaccurate. However, from a storytelling standpoint, Part 3 is about as good you can get for finality to an overall story. Part 2 left off with Marty burning the Gray’s Sports Almanac, insuring that Future Biff couldn’t capitalize off future sports scores and creating a weird dystopian future where Biff rules Hill Valley like an evil dictator who vaguely resembles Donald Trump. With the future timeline safely restored, all is thought to be well until Doc is struck by lightning in the DeLorean, causing the time circuits to crash, sending him back in the past to 1885 and leaving Marty still stuck in 1955. However, through a cosmic miracle, Doc survived the lightning strike and was able to get correspondence to Marty letting him know that his alive and well and in the Old West, followed by a warning to not try and come back for him. Of course, we already know our hero won’t be able to do that so he returns back to Hill Valley to get help from who else, Doc Brown himself....the 1955 Doc Brown, that just finished sending Marty back to 1985. Are you thoroughly confused yet?
Believe me, writing all that out may have come across as convoluted but I assure you, watching the story unfold over the first two films to get you to this point is actually really easy to follow and is digestible as a member of the viewing audience. Which brings us to the crux of the third film and where it leaves our hero. Marty decides to go back to 1885 and rescue his friend after having discovered a grisly secret from the past. It’s at this point, a new third element of movie genre is introduced to the comedy/sci-if mixture: the American Western.
Now let me say right up front, I absolutely love westerns. Some great, rich stories have been told within the western genre, but I gotta admit....I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time watching this knowing that it would be predominantly western. However, once this portion of the story kicked in, I was hooked! Introducing a western aspect to the overall storytelling gave something fresh and new while still keeping in line with the story we had already come to know and love.
Back to the Future III ©1990 Universal Pictures
A common thread of storyline, character overlap, and running jokes within this world continued in the third installment effortlessly and while the presentation was a complete 180 to what the audience had been conditioned to, the overall vibe was not lost.
That is a true testament to great storytelling when you can surprise the audience with something completely different and still have them stick around and care about the story you’re trying to tell.
Visually, the movie is beautifully shot and really gives off a legitimate feel of the old west. From set design right down to the score and soundtrack (featuring an appearance by ZZ Top) you are immersed in a western frontier version of Hill Valley. And that’s not a bad thing! It gives you a new way to get invested in these characters that you’ve already become so familiar with that you can’t help but get lost in where the story is going.
As a viewer, when you commit yourself to following along with a story for more than 1 or 2 films, ultimately, after it’s all said and done, you want to be able to say “Yes” to two questions:
Does the overall story make sense?
Was it entertaining?
I have zero problems saying that I was able to answer “Yes“ to both of these questions. With regard to Part 3 specifically, the freshness of adding a western element to the storytelling gave just enough of something new without taking me completely out of the storytelling. I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish because the writing stayed true to the story and the characters all throughout the trilogy which ultimately gave you an overall story that made sense once the final credits rolled.
Back to the Future Part III gives you a satisfying finality to the Marty and Doc Brown story that endears you to the characters more than you were already invested at the beginning of the film. While it may be the least popular of the trilogy to some hardcore fans of the franchise due to its interjection of the western genre, to the average movie goer who may have stumbled upon the first entry into the series, this film more than delivers for an overall great movie going experience and a satisfying conclusion to a wonderful story that will endure the test of time.
Brian J. Sumner is the Host of Dude, What?!, author of The Secrets of Dr. Killiecrankie and a avid time traveler. He enjoys watching movies and playing with his gigawatts.
